Regional News Controversy in Jamaica over prospective telecoms service provider
-security issues may be at forefront
(Jamaica Gleaner) The United States government, through its embassy here, has reportedly turned over ‘hard evidence’ to the Andrew Holness administration on why it should revoke the spectrum licence to Symbiote Investments Limited, the Jamaican company that wants to become a provider of telecoms services.
However, except for its weighing into the issue publicly through a November post on social media site Twitter, where it shared concerns of the Office of the Contractor General, Jamaica’s main anti-corruption arm, the embassy has not publicly said exactly what is driving its concerns about Symbiote, which trades as Caricel.
Added to those concerns, though, may be the relationship between Caricel and Huawei, the Chinese company whose advance on the US market has been restricted because of national security suspicions about the links with the Chinese government. Officials fear that the Chinese could use its advance into the market to snoop on America.
Huawei Technologies, which has denied the US allegations, is third in the world in the making of smartphones and is a leader in the manufacturing of critical equipment for networking and routing for telecommunications. Australia, in 2012, excluded the firm from bidding on its networks, noting cybersecurity concerns.
The company, which was founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, a former engineer in the Chinese army, is a major provider of technology services that Symbiote intends to use in providing its own services.
Ericsson, a Swedish company and Huawei’s main rival, is also among the suppliers, a Caricel official, not authorised to speak on the record, told The Gleaner.
The official declined to speak on the extent of Huawei’s involvement with the company but noted that the issue has been a ‘key’ area, one of the ongoing issues with its licence. A representative of Huawei, who has worked with Jamaica’s other two foreign-owned telecoms providers, was, yesterday, unwilling to speak on the matter.
In 2012, a report from an intelligence committee of the US Congress concluded that Huawei and another Chinese rival, ZTE, were risks to the US, alleging that their equipment could be used by the Chinese to spy on the North American country. That October report, although not yielding any evidence to confirm the allegations, said “acquisitions, takeovers, or mergers” in the US must be blocked.
Two years later, in 2014, The New York Times and Germany’s Der Spiegel news magazine reported on disclosures from former American intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden, who leaked documents detailing how the US’s National Security Agency had tried to access Huawei equipment.